Gold Climbs for Fifth Straight Session to New 5-1/2-Month High

Most precious metals futures traded lower Tuesday. Gold was the exception, advancing for a fifth straight session to finish at a new 5-1/2-month high.

Gold for June delivery added $2.20, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,294.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The close is the highest since Nov. 4 when prices ended at $1,304.50 an ounce.

"The Fed is still probably on course to hike two more times this year," Reuters quoted Ryan McKay, associate commodities strategist for TD Securities in Toronto. "Until something fundamentally happens to change the Fed expectations or something happens with North Korea or the likes of that, we think it’s capped at this $1,290-$1,300 resistance."

Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,280.60 to a high of $1,294.40. They advanced 0.3% on Monday.

Ending lower for the first time since a week ago Monday, silver for May delivery dropped 24.2 cents, or 1.3%, to $18.272 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $18.06 and $18.44. In the previous session, they edged up less than a half cent to settle at their best level since Nov. 10.

In rounding out precious metals trading:

July platinum declined $12.50, or 1.3%, to $978.60 an ounce, ranging from $977.80 to $989.10.

Palladium fell $17.55, or 2.2%, to $771 an ounce, trading between $768.55 and $792.30.

London Precious Metals Prices

London markets shut down for Good Friday and Easter Monday holiday. In comparing London bullion prices from Thursday PM to Tuesday PM:

Gold declined $5.25, or 0.4%, to $1,278.95 an ounce.

Silver fell 14 cents, or 0.8%, to $18.42 an ounce.

LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.

US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in 2017

United States int bullion sales were unchanged as of 4:02 p.m. ET. Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. bullion products with columns listing the number of coins sold during varying periods. Products with an asterisk (*) are no longer available.